Are you using place names to describe where an ancestor was born, died, or was buried, that are not listed in any gazetteer? Make certain that you also include a more reference (eg. GPS coordinates) to assist others in finding the location. On a recent trip to visit my parents, I had to take my brother lunch where he was discing–“on the McNally place, you know past his forty, which is past McGaughey’s and turn south.” Of course those names would be on local plat books and other records, but often those descriptions are only in people’s gray matter. Don’t make that mistake. Clearly identify locations. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Citations are not stressed in genealogy because some retired English teacher needed something to do. There’s a reason. Not all versions of a record are created equally and knowing the site you used to find something, even a digital image, can help you (or someone else) analyze it later. One website may have only posted selected images (as HeritageQuest Online did for Revolutionary War pensions) or accidentally “cut off” parts of images that were posted. Some books of extracts and abstracts may have only included “selected documents.” Clearly indicating from where something was obtained lets you (or someone else) know the version that was used. Then later it’s easier to decide if more work needs to be done. And it is ok if your citation does not fit […]
Don’t assume your ancestor would not be in a paper, because “our family didn’t warrant any mention.” You never know when your ancestor might have been in an organization that caused him to get mentioned, got into legal trouble, received a pension, or any of a number of things that might have caused his name to appear in print. He might have even written a letter encouraging his fellow farmers to grow more winter wheat as the United States approached the first World War. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Obituaries and death notices, particularly more recent ones, may not mention previous spouses or the factthat children of the deceased are not full siblings. Be careful before concluding that the children listed in an obituary share the same set of both parents. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Review all the materials you have on “your” ancestor. Are you certain all those references to “your” ancestor are actually “your” ancestor? How would your conclusions change if one of those references actually was not to your ancestor? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Search Google Books (http://books.google.com) for every ancestor or relative. You never know who might appear in a printed reference. Sometimes the most unexpected names appear in print. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Your great-grandfather disappeared in the 1920s. Descendants “know nothing” and searches in the area are unsuccessful. Consider tracing the great-grandfather’s sibling and his aunts and uncles and their descendants to see if any of those individuals know where your great-grandfather “condensed.” Sometimes more distant family members know more than a person thinks. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It is easy to search without looking to see if the record even exists. Ancestry.com “let” me search the 1810 census for a man who should have been living in Ohio. Problem is that most of the 1810 census for Ohio was destroyed in the War of 1812. If I never get past the search box, I don’t realize that. Are you making certain it really exists before you click “search?” ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you need maps of county boundary changes, complete with animations, try this site hosted by Chicago’s Newberry Library. http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/index.html ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you can’t find an ancestor who should be a head of household in a pre-1850 United States census, consider that he could be living with someone else and not listed by name. I was looking for an older ancestor in 1840. Then it dawned on me that, given his age in 1840, he might have been living with one of his children. The ancestor would not have been head of household and would be “hidden” in one of those tally marks. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I was asked to give people a little advance notice about our next offering of “Organizing Your Genealogical Information.” Our next series of classes and follow up sessions will begin in January 2013. More details are here. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t stop with asking one relative about the family. Ask as many as possible. Even siblings close in age may remember different aspects of Grandpa’s life or have a different perspective. Exhaustive searches should apply to people as well as paper materials. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Chances are you are not the only descendant of your “brick wall” ancestor. Have you attempted to locate as many descendants of your “brick wall” ancestor as possible? Others may have researched him, have additional information, or even have apparently meaningless clues that, when combined with your apparently meaningless clues actually mean something. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Have you done Google and other searches to see if others are researching first (and more distantly related) cousins of some of your “lost” family members? This may be a good way to connect with others and researchers of these families may not “know enough” to have names that they can post on earlier generations. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
A relative giving information for a record could easily get similar (or not so similar) names confused. Any chance a relative got the names John and Tom confused? These are not the same names, are not derived from the same name, but a mixup could easily take place. This is more likely the case if a minority of documents give a name that does not appear anywhere else. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Recent Comments